Glasgow is Scotland's largest city, located on the River Clyde in the southwest of Scotland. It is also one of 32 unitary council regions in Scotland, officially known as City of Glasgow. Glasgow has a population of 618,400 (1996 est). The name is reputed to be based on the expression Glas cu meaning "dear green place". It is popularly referred to as "Glesga" by Glaswegians who are known as "keelies" by other Scots. Other Scots are known as "teuchters" by the keelies, particularly if they are from places north of the city.

The buildings reflect the wealth and self confidence of the residents of the "second city of the Empire". There is even a building facing Glasgow Green, originally a carpet factory, which was designed as a replica of the Doge's Palace in Venice. It doesn't look out of place in Glasgow. The wealth came from the industries that developed from the Industrial Revolution. The shipyards, marine engineering, steel making, and heavy industry[?] all contributed to the growth of the city. At one time the expression "Clyde-built" was synonymous with quality and engineering excellence.

Of course, there was another side to the picture. The beautiful buildings were built with red or gold sandstone but after a few years those colours had disappeared under a pervasive black layer of soot and pollutants from the furnaces. There were other buildings. Tenements were built to house the workers who migrated from Ireland, the Scottish Highlands, the islands and the country areas to feed the insatiable need for labour. Some of these developed into the infamous Glasgow slums.

In recent years many of these buildings have been cleaned and restored to their original appearance. Others were demolished and the residents rehoused in new housing estates around the city. Many people feel that this has been less than successful as many of the "schemes" were heartless dormitories well away from the centre of the city with no amenities, and which split up long established community relationships. Over time many have become as bad as the slum areas that they replaced.

Modern buildings in Glasgow include the Glasgow Science Centre[?] and the Royal Concert Hall[?]. Along the banks of the Clyde is the Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre, and shopping centres include the Buchanan Galleries, the glass pyramid of the St Enoch Centre, and the upmarket Princes Square.

Some religious rivalry still exists in certain sectors of the population. The sporting rivalry between the supporters of Celtic and Rangers can have an underlying religious basis for some people. Supporters of Celtic are drawn from the Roman Catholic community, and Rangers supporters are generally non-Catholics. At Celtic Park[?], the national Flag of Ireland has a place of honour and at Ibrox Park[?], it is the Union Jack.The Orangemen of Glasgow (members of the Protestant Orange Lodges), parade annually through the city, playing flutes and drums, singing songs which are seen as provocative by some. Most people view this as an irrelevant throwback to more intolerant times and less liberal views, and the size of these parades seems to be dwindling over the years.

Glasgow has constantly had a ferment of new incoming religious groups, Jews, Highlanders, Irish Catholics, and more recently asylum seekers, from a multiplicity of faiths. Most young professional people see this as an enrichment and revitalising of the city, and regard bigotry as a dark but distant part of this vibrant and modern city's history.

Glasgow people have a unique sense of humour, and strong loyalty to their own city. The Glasgow Patter[?] is a brand of local humorous dialect which is hilarious to those who understand it, usually only natives of the city.

Billy Connolly has done a lot to make Glaswegian humour accessible to the rest of the world but, inevitably, it loses something in translation. In fact Glaswegian is a rich and vital living dialect which gives a true reflection of the city with all its virtues and its unattractive features. It is more than an alternative pronunciation; words also change their meaning eg "away" can means "leaving" as in 'Ah'm away", an instruction to stop being a nuisance as in "away wi ye", or drunk as in "he's away wi' it". "Cannae" means "can't", "Canny" means "careful". "Pieces" refers to "snacks", normally slices of bread.
Then there are words that appear to have no obvious relationship to standard English, words like "coupon" which means "face". Other words can be a bit more obvious, a "Billy Boy" is a Protestant, a supporter of William of Orange. A Catholic on the other hand is a "left footer". The names are not complimentary but they are not necessarily pejorative either.
An example of the dialect which comes from an anonymous lament by a housing scheme resident for the remembered joys of life in the city before being rehoused in one of the "deserts with windows" that were the schemes:

Glasgow is also a major education centre with universities such as Glasgow University ( which has one ofthe highest ratios of students who continue living at home) and the University of Strathclyde, teacher training colleges, teaching hospitals and a range of technical colleges.